


All It Takes Is One Mistake

by AceOfTheFandoms



Series: Em's Bad Things Happen Bingo [7]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Facing your Phobia, Hiding Injury, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Roman needs to stop hiding things, cracks, like seriously
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-25
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:20:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24364939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AceOfTheFandoms/pseuds/AceOfTheFandoms
Relationships: Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders/Deceit Sanders, hinted Roceit - Relationship
Series: Em's Bad Things Happen Bingo [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1717099
Comments: 8
Kudos: 74
Collections: Bad Things Happen Bingo





	All It Takes Is One Mistake

There were things that Roman needed to keep to himself for fear that the others might hate him for it. A lot of it was small things, like hiding how much he like Crofter’s so Logan could enjoy it. How much he missed his brother, even if he had to pretend otherwise, and most importantly how much he needed the others.

Being the Ego, though he often tried to make the others forget about that part in favor of being Creativity. But that was fine, he just had to keep talking to the others and it would be fine.

But then came the callback wedding situation and despite all the prodding Deceit had given him..he took a blow to the Ego. He had helped him and it lashed back and hurt him.

He had to spend a lot of time with the others to recover but he was fine.

But then...the aftermath of the Wedding happened. He was scared and stressed and oh so confused. He assumed they wouldn’t be trusting him. After all, they hadn’t trusted him during the court case, why would they trust him now.

But apparently, they trusted them more then what Roman had given them credit for. He made fun of Janus’s name and Janus hit him right where it hurt. By comparing him to Remus.

_ Crack _

They listened to what Janus had said despite him being shown as the bad guy again and again.

_ Crack _

He asked Thomas if he was still his hero. And honestly, he wasn’t sure if he was telling the truth when he said yes. Janus’s nod didn’t help any with that.

_ Crack _

Patton told him they still loved him but honestly...he was pretty sure Patton was lying.

_ Crack _

Before anyone could see anything else, Roman sunk out to his room, heading to his bathroom, making sure Remus wasn’t in the tub again and locking the door to check the damage.

He glanced away from the other cracks. The cracks from the Crofters Musical. The cracks from Learning New Things About Ourselves. All the other cracks he’s collected throughout the years.

And there were the new ones, across his chest this time. Made sense, the closer they hit home the closer they were to his core. 

Speaking of his core, he could see red light streaming through his cracks again. They were getting bad again. And with what he had just said to Janus… It’s okay Roman you just have to keep it together for a bit longer. Just long enough to heal so his core wasn’t showing. That wouldn’t be too hard...right?

Except...Roman forgot about what had happened. Well not really, but specifically, he had forgotten about what  _ he _ had said to Janus. Normally spending time with the others helped heal him but when he tried….

“And why would I want to spend time with you when you ignored me last video,” Logan asked, glaring, “I have better things to do than hang out with an egotistical prince.”   
  
_ Crack _

“Kiddo, I’m sorry but you and Janus need to apologize to each other first. Both of you said things you shouldn’t have. And until you guys apologize I don’t know if I can hang out with either of you.”

_ Crack _

At least Virgil didn’t hurt him more, though once Roman saw the state he was in, he thought it was better to direct Patton towards him and head back to his room. 

He knew better than to ask Janus or his brother for help. Janus was probably too upset at him and Remus caused cracks all the time without meaning to from the stuff he said comparing them when they were together or even just pushing Roman down. He knew why Remus did it, he understood. That didn’t mean it didn’t hurt.

Guess Roman would just have to stay in his room until he was healed a bit. It shouldn’t be too bad.

And it wasn’t, except….he didn’t seem to be getting much better. If anything, he kept getting worse because the others kept saying things that caused cracks. But he couldn’t tell them what was happening.

If he did they’d see him as weak. He was supposed to be a Prince, Princes couldn’t be weak, Princes were supposed to protect people from other things they were going through. Roman wasn’t supposed to be this weak, he shouldn’t have been affected by every little statement that one of the others threw at him. He could take it, he just needed to wait and he’d get better. They didn’t need to find out anything else.

At least...that had been the plan. But with the others too upset at him, and Roman outright refusing to go to Remus or Janus...or Virgil as he was still freaking out over everything as well, Roman was only getting worse and weaker.

Fortunately, he didn’t gain any more core cracks as nothing else the others said anything that hit too close to home. But he was still gaining cracks without any of the old ones healing.

Roman realized he was getting weakening but he still pretended in front of the others. Everything would be fine. He could deal with it on his own. He had to be strong enough for that.

Except he forgot to take into account the others. He assumed no one would come to check on him. He never expected that Janus of all sides would come to apologize.

Roman was checking the cracks again, checking on the new ones, and making sure none of the old ones were getting any worse when he heard a door open. “Hey Roman I just wanted to- ...what the fuck?”

Roman froze, knowing exactly what he had seen. Oh god he was going to tell the others. They’d see him as weak. Roman didn’t want that. He couldn’t be seen as weak.  _ He couldn’t.  _

Janus must have noticed the panic on Roman’s face. “Hey I’m not going to hurt you or anything. I just came to apologize for what I said I wasn’t expecting...do the others know?”

“NO,” Roman practically yelled. “And they  **_can’t_ ** know. They’ll see- I can’t-.”

“Okay Roman I need you to breathe with me,” Janus said, starting the pattern. Once he had calmed down, Janus decided to ask the important question. “What exactly are the cracks?”

Roman didn’t want to tell him but knew Janus wouldn’t leave him alone until he did . “...Do you promise not to tell the others?” 

After Janus nodded, Roman sighed and explained. “Like how Remus is Intrusive Thoughts along with Creativity, along with Creativity, I’m the Ego. So whenever something negative is said towards me...I get a crack. They normally heal but...I need positive interaction for that.”   
  
“Yeah, something tells me your core isn’t supposed to be showing through them.”

“It won’t once they heal. But there were just too many remarks that..hit too close to home during the last episode.”   
  
Janus winced slightly. “Roman...I hate to say it, but I think you should tell the others.”

“I  **_can’t_ ** . If I tell them, they’ll see me as weak. I can’t be weak. I’m the Prince.”

“..Roman answer me this will you,” Janus asked him, “Is Virgil seen as weak for his anxiety attacks? Or is Patton seen as weak when he gets overwhelmed?”

“Of course not, that’s just a part of them. They can’t control it.”

“Then why would they see you as weak for the cracks?”

Roman opened his mouth to answer but couldn’t come up with a response.

“Exactly. Now you need to explain to them before you get anymore cracks around your core Roman. You seem to barely be holding it together as it is.”

“...Thanks Janus..and I’m sorry for making fun of your name.”

“And I apologize for comparing you to Remus.”

Roman closed his eyes as he felt the familiar sensation as one of his cracks starting to heal. “..just let me get a shirt on first, this would be a strange conversation to have shirtless.”

Janus chuckled and nodded. “I’ll leave you to do that then.”

“...Actually, can you be there with me when I tell them? I don’t know if I’ll be able to do it on my own.”

Janus nodded. Heading out with Roman once he was ready.

And Janus had been right. None of them saw Roman as weak, most of them just couldn’t believe they hadn’t noticed. And slowly but surely, the cracks healed.


End file.
